I met Lee at Shot tonight and I asked him about his plans as a board member of the NRA

When I asked him about what his plans and/or the NRA's plans for fighting the new hotel gun ban bill was his response was "What do you plan on doing about it".and continued to make clear it was not his problem.
.And then he quit the conversation. Guess what like most people on this forum I unlike the NRA and by extension Lee do not have access to millions of dollars to lobby the government. After our conversation I walked away feeling belittled and insulted. What's the point in donating to the NRA when Hawaii's representative to the NRA could care less about doing anything about fighting anti gun bills in Hawaii. I simply asked him what he planned on doing for Hawaii as a board member and he was very condescending to me simply for asking what he planned to do as a board member for Hawaii. 

I can't support someone like that.  If you want to vote for him just because you want a guy from Hawaii that is fine.  However my honest opinion after meeting him for the first time is he is simply on the NRA board to be  a politician and has no plan to actually fight for the Second Amendment in Hawaii.I know that making this post may make me some enemies but a lot of people give their hard earned money to the NRA including people in Hawaii and it should by run be people that actually care about defending the Second Amendment.  From my encounter with Lee he is not that. Vote for whoever you want but I decided after meeting him that I should tell my friends on this board about my impression about his character so that you can have my take on the man prior to voting.

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on this person.  it's important for members to make informed decisions.

messed up, sad

I met him at a Sam Slom fundraiser a few years ago; seemed like a prick and only cared about getting people to vote for him.

GOA is doing more for gun rights screw the NRA they don’t support gun owners they just want your money if you think your helping the fight by donating and not trying to spread the word yourself your the very reason stupid gun law are commonsense gun laws

GOA is doing more for gun rights screw the NRA they don’t support gun owners they just want your money if you think your helping the fight by donating and not trying to spread the word yourself your the very reason stupid gun law are commonsense gun laws

At the end of the day GOA does not have the numbers to be as effective as the NRA I think GOA has 300,000 members. 
The best course of action is to reform the NRA because with 6 million members it has the clout if it wants to use it.

Before we throw the baby out with the bathwater - we need to remember that the NRA is a political organization. Inherent in the name is that it must compromise where it must to achieve greater ends. That means we will not get the firearms absolutism that we want. Hawaii is NOT in political contention. It it is owned lock, stock, and barrel by liberal democrats. No way around it. Why should a national organization like the NRA spend money in a lost political cause in Hawaii just because we paid 35$ a year? They matter in the end game: when a state is in political contention or when a court case has made it into the circuit courts. This is our fight. Its simple triage.  When we have something to offer: a federal house seat, new case law, etc. Then NRA pays attention.

Regarding Sam Slom and the politicians: votes and money are what matters. Everything else is wind. If we are waiting for a professional politician - probably an attorney- 'to do the right thing' - we will be waiting for a long time in this state. This is horse trading.

The Left lives and breathes this stuff.

I'm thinking Adam Kraut?  he does The Legal Brief on The Gun Collective video channel (Full30).  no, he's not the fat windbag guy, the other guy.

not for what he can do for Hawaii, but to fix the NRA.

Yankee Marshal video on NRA on "Why did the NRA abandon the Gun Community"
 

sounds almost as bad as thinking that Hawaii legislators actually pay attention to my submitted testimony.

Yankee Marshal video on NRA on "Why did the NRA abandon the Gun Community"
 sounds almost as bad as thinking that Hawaii legislators actually pay attention to my submitted testimony.

I saw that video a couple of days ago, too. Yankee makes a very good point -- that the NRA was not formed as a political, 2A rights protector for the nation. That was never their charter.  They formed for the most part as a way to train Americans how to shoot, so the military wasn't comprised mostly of people with poor firearm experience & skills.

The organization was always about the safe and effective use of rifles. Hence the name "National Rifle Assn."  Protecting gun rights was a natural expansion of their organization, but it's not their primary purpose.  That's why the NRA-ILA was created -- to help elect 2A-supporting candidates to Congress and other elected positions.

Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate
formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association would be to "promote and encourage rifle
shooting on a scientific basis," according to a magazine editorial written by Church.

After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. Civil War Gen. Ambrose
Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. senator, became the fledgling NRA's first president.

An important facet of the NRA's creation was the development of a practice ground. In 1872, with financial help from New York State,
a site on Long Island, the Creed Farm, was purchased for the purpose of building a rifle range. Named Creedmoor, the range opened
a year later, and it was there that the first annual matches were held.

Political opposition to the promotion of marksmanship in New York forced the NRA to find a new home for its range. In 1892,
Creedmoor was deeded back to the state and NRA's matches moved to Sea Girt, New Jersey.

https://home.nra.org/about-the-nra/

Carolyn Meadows was elected NRA President; Charles L. Cotton, First Vice President; and Willes Lee, Second Vice President.

"Charles L. Cotton" a longtime opponent of Open Carry and on the board of trustees for the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund which, unsurprisingly, has funded the CRPA's (official California state organization of the NRA) lawsuits which argued and argue that states can ban Open Carry in favor of concealed carry.  A position popular with the Nancy Boys but more about that later.

"Carolyn Meadows" is the 2nd Vice Chairman of the American Conservative Union.  What her public position is in regards to Open Carry I cannot say but five will get you ten that it will be the same as Wayne LaPierre's rentboy, Chris Cox.  Namely, voice public support for Open Carry while at the same time funding lawsuits dedicates to preserving Open Carry bans.